The Trumpeter was originally published as an ecophilosophy newsletter; it then became a scholarly research publication, an environmental humanities journal exploring a diversity of “ecosophies” (personal life philosophies that try to live by an ecological wisdom in harmony with the natural world). It is designed to “serve the deep ecology movement’s commitment to philosophically explore and analyze environmental concerns in light of ecological developments at every relevant level: metaphysics, science, history, politics. Gaining a deeper understanding involves a comprehensive set of criteria that includes analytical rigour, spiritual insight, ethical integrity, and aesthetic appreciation.” The journal publishes scholarly articles, narratives, poetry, book and film reviews, and cartoons.

The editorial team is almost entirely composed of Canadian academics, with an Editor-in-Chief from Joseph's College, University of Alberta, and Managing Editors from Athabasca University and K.U. Leuven, Canada. Scholarly articles in the journal have been double-blind peer reviewed, while poetry, narrative pieces, and book reviews are reviewed by those sections' editors.

The current issue, Vol 30, No 2 (2014), is a special issue marking the 30th anniversary of The Trumpeter, and it’s titled, “Whatever Happened to Deep Ecology?” It holds an editorial of the same title, two Opinion pieces (“On Depth Ecology” and “Deep Ecology, New Conservation, and the Anthropocene Worldview”), four research Articles (“Ecosophy at the End of Nature,” “Deep Ecology: What is Said and (to be) Done?,” “What is Living in Deep Ecology?,” and “Deep Ecology, the Radical Enlightenment, and Ecological Civilization”), three Narratives (“Why Deep Ecology Had to Die,” “Deep Ecology and the Future of the Wild in the Anthropocene,” and “From Deep Ecology to Integral Ecology: A Personal Retrospective”), a Book Review (of Bron Taylor’s Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, University of California Press, 2010), and a Cartoon [“Future Balance (Miracle)”]. Past issues also offered Poetry and Film Reviews, and there have been issues devoted to “Ecosophy Across Generations,” “Ecosophical Education,” and memorial issues, such as “Remembering Naess & Devall.”

This is an important environmental and philosophical journal that should be made known to researchers and scholars across the humanities and the sciences.